Lady Gaga

Up till now, I've only been scarcely acquainted with Lady Gaga, the likes of LoveGame, Poker Face, and Bad Romance gradually filtered into my subconscious from their air time on the radio. I finally felt compelled to just dive in, so I picked up the deluxe edition of The Fame Monster album.

Verdict? It's pretty damned amazing.

Hard not to go along with the whole Madonna comparison, but to me, this blows away her 2000-era efforts. I've also read Gaga's style being likened to Queen, Ace of Base, and Shakira among others. It's certainly easy to hear traces of all of those, but they're wrapped in such a skillfully sleek coating of punchy club, pop and electronica that it manages to be so much greater than the sum of its parts. On top of which, she's got one hell of a great voice.

I'm still absorbing the entirety of the two-in-one album, but my favorites so far are the La Isla Bonita-inspired Alejandro, the deliciously ABBA-like melodic hooks that make up Telephone, and the calypso-europop sensibilities of Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say).

We've got a few Gaga fans here, don't we? Zane and Herrkotowski. Idolores too, I believe. You fellas have any favorite tracks?

I took a long time for me to warm up to Lady Gaga, but even back then, a good pop album was a good pop album, and I loves me some pop. I'm taking note of the Madonna and ABBA comparisons, and shit, they are not wrong.

I haven't heard too much of her new album, but I'll get to it eventually. I've heard that The Fame Monster creates an interesting dichotomy with her previous effort. That intrigues me.

Lady Gaga is absolutely amazing and I'd say she's the one pop star that not only has the looks and the hooks, but has the throat and the heart to back it up. Gaga has a great voice and she truly loves her fans. She's not just some vehicle manfactured by the industry to sell albums and digital singles; she's been on the music scene for a long time and has been playing gigs and clubs since her mid-to-late teens. The girl has been working hard for a long time, and it's about time that her persistence has paid off. She's an inspiring person and performer, and has given me more inspiration than I ever would have imagined. This might sound cheesy, but the lessons I learned from Gaga is that you should be proud to be you and to look how you want to look and to wear what you want to wear. Turn everything into fashion. Stay humble, be assertive, and have fun! Or, in my case, unapologetically wear sleeveless t-shirts and pink belts, sing "Poker Face" at karaoke with all of my heart, and grow a mohawk.

The Fame is almost tame in comparison to The Fame Monster, but both albums are pretty f---ing awesome. I mean, how can you compare songs like "Boys, Boys, Boys" and "Eh, Eh, (Nothing Else I Can Say)" to tracks like "Dance in the Dark" and "Bad Romance"? Completely different realms of pop. While both albums are brilliant in their own way (Fame is more lightly produced and almost happy while Fame Monster has more twists and turns and some darker tunes), I prefer The Fame Monster for several reasons, the least of which isn't "Telephone", the album's blockbuster track that I knew would be huge the first time I heard it. (Don knows what I'm talkin' about!) I can't recommend one over the other, the same way that I wouldn't be able to recommend having only one side of a coin. The Fame has her breakout hits, some amazingly produced and fun songs ("I Like It Rough" = 2009 anthem) and shows where she started with her pop music, and The Fame Monster takes it a step further and shows a darker side with less focus on fun and fame, and more on the less attractive things about life ("Monster" = 2010 anthem).

Anyway. Lady Gaga is f---ing incredible, puts on one hell of a show and is my number one artist. ROMAAA RRRAA MAA MAAAA!!

EDIT: I fully realize that half of this post is Youtube-comment-quality fan jibberish, and I am 100% OK with it.

Been checking out some of the remixes now, and the Chew Fu ones definitely appear to be the best. Bad Romance and especiallyPaparazzi are awesome.

Zane wrote:

Anyway. Lady Gaga is f---ing incredible, puts on one hell of a show and is my number one artist.

Were you ever able to see her in concert? She played the Monster Ball tour in Boston late last year, right? Sort of wished I'd discovered her sooner, as I would have loved to take in one of the Radio City Music Hall showings here in NYC this past week. (I think Don was talking about attending. Wonder if he made it?)

The first time I heard "Just Dance" on the radio I went on wikipedia to look her up.

What I read there was enough to make me a fan.

1) she's fairly intelligent and well-read (at least, in the things she's interested in -- fem lib, 20th century pop art, etc)2) she writes her own music3) all of her performance art seems to be a game for the observant follower. Is she REALLY obsessed with fame? Is she making a critique about the world around her, or is the critique made of herself, or BOTH? Or is this NOT a critique at all, but just a simple expression of life as-is?

That's why I love Lady Gaga's work. At times I could do without the overt sexuality, if only because I like subtle, nuanced references to sexual themes in place of out-and-out ridiculousness.

And I think the music video for Paparazzi is awesome. And all of her live performance videos I've seen are wonderful.

Ramza

PS/EDIT - what really bugs me about all this is that I have a number of friends who have written her off as "another Britney Spears bimbo." Seriously? If what I said in point 3 has any bearing to reality, Gaga is either criticizing or else LAMENTING the rise and fall of people like Britney Spears.

3) all of her performance art seems to be a game for the observant follower. Is she REALLY obsessed with fame? Is she making a critique about the world around her, or is the critique made of herself, or BOTH? Or is this NOT a critique at all, but just a simple expression of life as-is?

If what I said in point 3 has any bearing to reality, Gaga is either criticizing or else LAMENTING the rise and fall of people like Britney Spears.

I would say that was the point of The Fame Monster. Deliberately creating the dichotomy I referenced earlier. The thematic elements present in said album appear to back that inference up.

I do agree on the overt sexual themes. I think that's why I had such a hard time getting into her music originally.

Anyway. Lady Gaga is f---ing incredible, puts on one hell of a show and is my number one artist.

Were you ever able to see her in concert? She played the Monster Ball tour in Boston late last year, right? Sort of wished I'd discovered her sooner, as I would have loved to take in one of the Radio City Music Hall showings here in NYC this past week. (I think Don was talking about attending. Wonder if he made it?)

Yep! The vocalist in my band is a radio personality on one of Boston's biggest stations and he was able to get me a pair of tickets for her show here in Boston back in early December. It was a really theatrical and well-put together show, for sure, and the price was right. I'd prefer to see Gaga in a smaller venue (something that's impossible at this point), but I'm so glad I had the chance to check her out live. She sounded awesome!

I remember seeing her on TV a few years ago and thinking that she was a Swedish import, so I think the Ace of Base and ABBA comparisons are apt. I enjoyed her performance but thought she had no chance of mainstream success in the US because she just sounded so European. Shows how much I know. She remained off my radar after that, aside from the ubiquitous "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," which were fun but nothing extraordinary. I finally decided to check out her albums recently and was pleasantly surprised that her non-single tracks were much more to my liking.

Do yourself a favor and track down some of the remixes. The Pet Shop Boys remix of "Eh, Eh" is Eh-mazing, as are her acoustic performances.

Angela wrote:

I'm still absorbing the entirety of the two-in-one album, but my favorites so far are the La Isla Bonita-inspired Alejandro,

My first thought was ABBA's "Fernando" because of the lyrics, but musically it sounds more like Ace of Base's "Don't Turn Around." I'm not the only one who thought that, it seems. There's a mash-up of all three up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtk15cHRs84

For some reason, Lady Gaga's becoming more widely publicized than all get-out, lately. She's even being referenced on shows like Jim Cramer's "Mad Money," and a number of other talk shows, whether she's a guest, or not...'cuz, even my old man, and my old lady have heard of Lady Gaga before.

I'd make snide comments like, "So, what's the difference between Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga?" but Gaga seems to be more intelligent than that; I think she's honestly trying to prove a point that people worship celebrities too damn much.

Her music? Don't really listen to it, but I've heard her chart-topping singles: "Paparazzi," "Poker Face," etc., more than once over the PA.

Oh snap, Paper Gangsta blew out my iPod docking station's left speaker. o_O But it was worth it, because that bassy backbeat is just too dope. Teeth has also quickly risen up the ranks as one of my all-time personal favorites.

Light on the fluff, slick on the electronics, and clean, meaty accentuation on the backdrop and main vocal performance -- very cool. I only wished he held back a little more on the reverb/flange that starts up at 1:26. (On the Youtube version. It does sound more subdued and better implemented in the MP3 itself.)

I liked the way he goes against conventions and held back on the "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh" chorus at 2:11 that usually follows "I want your loving and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance." And that synthy accompaniment that comes in at 3:41? Awesome sauce.

I've only heard what they play in the clubs and on the radio and based on that alone can't help but think a large part of her huge success is image and smart marketing.

But just heard Telephone today and it is epic. I read it charted even without a proper single release; now that that's out and with Japan-favorite Beyonce co-starring it's gonna be huge here. Already is back home I suppose.

Interesting that she originally wrote it for Britney Spears, I get much more of a Gwen Stefani vibe from it. Glad that didn't work out with Britney, it's in much better hands now.

But just heard Telephone today and it is epic. I read it charted even without a proper single release; now that that's out and with Japan-favorite Beyonce co-starring it's gonna be huge here. Already is back home I suppose.

Speaking of, the much anticipated music video for Telephone finally debuted this week:

I don't know if I've heard anything else by her, but "Poker Face" is so f---ing horrible I wish whoever came up with that shit drinks a bottle full of poison or, better yet, kills itself by running head first into a brick wall.